{"id":8538,"date":"2017-05-27T11:19:37","date_gmt":"2017-05-27T09:19:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/?p=8538"},"modified":"2017-05-27T11:20:08","modified_gmt":"2017-05-27T09:20:08","slug":"shoulders-of-giants-early-critics-of-high-authoritarian-modernism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/2017\/05\/27\/shoulders-of-giants-early-critics-of-high-authoritarian-modernism\/","title":{"rendered":"Learning from early masters of public life studies"},"content":{"rendered":"

I was recently involved in\u00a0service design research to\u00a0support an\u00a0initiative that involved potential changes to the client’s staff’s way of working, but also to the design of its\u00a0program of activities and to part of its\u00a0interior.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As we explored the problem, I found myself re-reading the work\u00a0of seminal thinkers including Jane Jacobs, Jan Gehl, William Whyte, Christopher Alexander, and Kevin Lynch. Their ideas about\u00a0the relationship between\u00a0spatial design and\u00a0human interactivity proved particularly useful,\u00a0though they date from decades before we and our\u00a0environment become\u00a0digitally enhanced and networked in a ‘world-wide-web’.<\/p>\n

Their work provided our team with the key to understanding the complex ways in which spatial design, organisational culture and activity impact each other, enabling us to make next steps.<\/p>\n

Gehl’s (Life Between Buildings<\/a><\/em>) insights about the ways in which ‘low-intensity contact’ underpins\u00a0the growth of deeper, ‘high-intensity’ relationships – and his observations of the ways the built environment can help or hinder its flourishing –\u00a0helped us create design principles for the new space and activities. \u00a0Alexander et. al’s \u00a0approach (A Pattern Language<\/a><\/em>) – gave us a form\u00a0to use in creating\u00a0a conceptual model of the built space based on the way users experience it and interact in it, as opposed to relying solely on functional requirements or style conventions. Lynch’s (The Image of the City<\/a><\/em>) abstraction of\u00a0edges, paths, nodes and other elements that make up users’ mental model of a space, helped us interpret user input to\u00a0form\u00a0a realistic idea of the constraints and opportunities offered by the building’s interior design.<\/p>\n

What we can learn<\/strong><\/p>\n

One striking feature of these pioneers’ approach is their lean integration of quantitative and qualitative research. This enabled them to create strong evidence for findings which otherwise might have been dismissed as\u00a0nostalgic fantasies or subjective impressions not rigorous enough to base design interventions on. They deployed a rich set of instruments: measuring the number and duration of encounters, the speed of walkers\u00a0and traffic, and using mapping, path-tracing, interviews, time-elapse film and photography. They used these to create solidly evidenced models that revealed the relationships between behaviours and environments. Their visualisation of their findings was also innovative and thought-provoking.<\/p>\n

How many? Who? Where? What? How long? They showed us how these seemingly simple questions, when answered through rigorous data collection and combined with qualitative insights, can reveal new kinds of order that are hiding in plain sight.<\/p>\n

Some reading tips<\/strong><\/p>\n

How to Study Public Life<\/a><\/em> by Jan Gehl and Birgitte Svarre contains many cases with explanations of the methodologies and results, from the 1960s up to very recent ones. For a great example of quant-qual integration and visual representation of results, see Appleyard and Lintell’s visual explanation of the relationship between the traffic speed and social life\u00a0of three San Francisco streets on page 114.<\/p>\n

If you don’t have time to read Jane Jacobs’ work at length, read the section about her in James Scott’s Seeing Like a State<\/a><\/em>, entitled ‘The Case Against High-modernist Urbanism: Jane Jacobs’.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I was recently involved in\u00a0service design research to\u00a0support an\u00a0initiative that involved potential changes to the client’s staff’s way of working, but also to the design of its\u00a0program of activities and to part of its\u00a0interior.\u00a0 As we explored the problem, I found myself re-reading the work\u00a0of seminal thinkers including Jane Jacobs, Jan Gehl, William Whyte, Christopher … Continue reading Learning from early masters of public life studies<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":8550,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5,1],"tags":[300,301,302,303,304,52],"client-domain":[],"service-context":[],"methods-used":[],"yoast_head":"\nLearning from early masters of public life studies - ..STBY...<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/2017\/05\/27\/shoulders-of-giants-early-critics-of-high-authoritarian-modernism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Learning from early masters of public life studies - ..STBY...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I was recently involved in\u00a0service design research to\u00a0support an\u00a0initiative that involved potential changes to the client’s staff’s way of working, but also to the design of its\u00a0program of activities and to part of its\u00a0interior.\u00a0 As we explored the problem, I found myself re-reading the work\u00a0of seminal thinkers including Jane Jacobs, Jan Gehl, William Whyte, Christopher … Continue reading Learning from early masters of public life studies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/2017\/05\/27\/shoulders-of-giants-early-critics-of-high-authoritarian-modernism\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"..STBY...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-05-27T09:19:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-05-27T09:20:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/books-by-gehl-and-others-2-cropped.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1925\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1268\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"STBY\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"STBY\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/2017\/05\/27\/shoulders-of-giants-early-critics-of-high-authoritarian-modernism\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/2017\/05\/27\/shoulders-of-giants-early-critics-of-high-authoritarian-modernism\/\",\"name\":\"Learning from early masters of public life studies - ..STBY...\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2017-05-27T09:19:37+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2017-05-27T09:20:08+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/#\/schema\/person\/50e6ec0573d55583962513a01d74ec2b\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/2017\/05\/27\/shoulders-of-giants-early-critics-of-high-authoritarian-modernism\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/2017\/05\/27\/shoulders-of-giants-early-critics-of-high-authoritarian-modernism\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/2017\/05\/27\/shoulders-of-giants-early-critics-of-high-authoritarian-modernism\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Learning from early masters of public life studies\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/\",\"name\":\"..STBY...\",\"description\":\"Design Research for meaningful change\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/#\/schema\/person\/50e6ec0573d55583962513a01d74ec2b\",\"name\":\"STBY\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3121d263d0913d59c58d86f43200ca7b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3121d263d0913d59c58d86f43200ca7b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"STBY\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/author\/admin\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Learning from early masters of public life studies - ..STBY...","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/2017\/05\/27\/shoulders-of-giants-early-critics-of-high-authoritarian-modernism\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Learning from early masters of public life studies - ..STBY...","og_description":"I was recently involved in\u00a0service design research to\u00a0support an\u00a0initiative that involved potential changes to the client’s staff’s way of working, but also to the design of its\u00a0program of activities and to part of its\u00a0interior.\u00a0 As we explored the problem, I found myself re-reading the work\u00a0of seminal thinkers including Jane Jacobs, Jan Gehl, William Whyte, Christopher … Continue reading Learning from early masters of public life studies","og_url":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/2017\/05\/27\/shoulders-of-giants-early-critics-of-high-authoritarian-modernism\/","og_site_name":"..STBY...","article_published_time":"2017-05-27T09:19:37+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-05-27T09:20:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1925,"height":1268,"url":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/05\/books-by-gehl-and-others-2-cropped.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"STBY","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"STBY","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/2017\/05\/27\/shoulders-of-giants-early-critics-of-high-authoritarian-modernism\/","url":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/2017\/05\/27\/shoulders-of-giants-early-critics-of-high-authoritarian-modernism\/","name":"Learning from early masters of public life studies - ..STBY...","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/#website"},"datePublished":"2017-05-27T09:19:37+00:00","dateModified":"2017-05-27T09:20:08+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/#\/schema\/person\/50e6ec0573d55583962513a01d74ec2b"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/2017\/05\/27\/shoulders-of-giants-early-critics-of-high-authoritarian-modernism\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/2017\/05\/27\/shoulders-of-giants-early-critics-of-high-authoritarian-modernism\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/2017\/05\/27\/shoulders-of-giants-early-critics-of-high-authoritarian-modernism\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Learning from early masters of public life studies"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/","name":"..STBY...","description":"Design Research for meaningful change","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/#\/schema\/person\/50e6ec0573d55583962513a01d74ec2b","name":"STBY","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3121d263d0913d59c58d86f43200ca7b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/3121d263d0913d59c58d86f43200ca7b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"STBY"},"url":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/author\/admin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8538"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8538"}],"version-history":[{"count":12,"href":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8538\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8560,"href":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8538\/revisions\/8560"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8538"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8538"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8538"},{"taxonomy":"client-domain","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/client-domain?post=8538"},{"taxonomy":"service-context","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/service-context?post=8538"},{"taxonomy":"methods-used","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.stby.eu\/wp_15\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/methods-used?post=8538"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}